The wake of an important underground crime boss is dramatically upended when his strong-willed and independent lover reveals herself to the family. She has to fend off the next of kin and eventually a confrontation between wife and lover ensues, but an old debt with the wrong people forces everyone into an uncomfortable alliance in order to prevent dire consequences. Papi's Lover, the novel, is a different kind of love story; a gritty work of urban realism that will take us through a whole gamut of emotions. The setting is the bustling streets of Washington Heights, New York in the 80s. The atmosphere is one of danger and fascination, of illegal activities and rawness. But the novel is much more than a love story; it's a deconstruction of a sexist culture, an examining of the destruction that a chauvinist paradigm leaves in its wake. The pace is intense, the scenes carefully drawn and crafted, the process is relentless, the ending is inexcusable and, yet, so perfect.
